Welcoming The Burn
by 23bjl23
Summary: Jay Halstead was having a bad day. Make that a bad week. But unfortunately it was going to get worse before it got better. That is if he managed to survive it first.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing just borrowing a few characters to make the hiatus more bearable! (is it really not September 30 yet?)

Song: Do You Remember By Jarryd James

AN: You may find Jay slightly OC in this story.

 **Welcoming The Burn**

Detective Jay Halstead sat at bar at Molly's just after eleven on a Friday night with a glass whiskey sitting in front of him. He looked down into the amber liquid, before picking the glass up and tossing it back with one gulp, welcoming the burn, and quickly signaled for another one.

"Haven't seen you in here for a while." Gabriela Dawson said as she placed another glass of whiskey in front of him.

"Been busy." Jay said before picking up the glass and downing it in one swallow.

"You're not gonna be able to walk out of here if you keep tossing them back like that –" Gabby said.

"Good." Jay told her, just thankful that she topped his glass up again.

"Someone else sat at my bar just last week tossing whiskey back like that. She asked me if it's possible to have a relationship with someone you work with."

"What's that got to do with me?"

"I think we both know it's got everything to do with you Jay."

"Yeah well it doesn't matter anymore."Jay said dejectedly.

"Maybe you should just talk to her. Tell her how you feel."

"That's not gonna make any difference. She's made her decision. And it wasn't me. It wasn't us." Jay told her.

"Jay –"

"Can I have another one?"

"Jay drinking away your problems isn't going to make you feel any better."

"I'm kinda hoping I wont be feeling anything at all after another couple."

"Jay –"

"If you wont serve me I'll go somewhere that will."

"One more. Then I'm calling you a cab." Gabby said with a shake of her head and walked up the other end of the bar.

Gabby took her cell phone out of her pocket and searched through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for.

She rang the number but there was no answer, so she left a message instead, hoping they'd get back to her soon. Then she quickly made another call.

Gabby was relieved when ten minutes later she saw her brother walk into the bar.

"What's up Gabby?" Antonio asked as he walked over to where his sister stood behind the bar.

"That's what's up?" Gabby asked Antonio, pointing to where Jay hunched over the bar at the far end staring at his drink.

"How long's he been here for?" Antonio asked with a wince as he saw Jay.

"Long enough to nearly have finished off a bottle of whiskey."

"Shit I better go talk to him." Antonio said.

"I was hoping you'd say that. But just go easy I think he's had a bad day." Gabby told her brother.

Jay sat at the bar glaring at his drink. He was starting to feel the warmth of the whiskey spreading through him, and waited for the numbness to follow. He really needed to feel nothing for a while even if it was for just one night. He heard the front door of the bar open and looked over half expecting and wanting, no needing, to see her walking through the door. His breath caught slightly when he spied dirty blond hair, but then she turned and he saw it wasn't her.

He was pathetic he though with a shake of his head. They'd only been together for a minute. But God he missed her. And to make matters worse he had to see her every day and make out like everything was fine. That it didn't feel like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.

"What's going on Jay?" Antonio asked as he leaned up against the bar next to where Jay sat.

"Just having a drink." Jay said holding his glass up to show Antonio with a sardonic grin.

"Yeah I see that. Wanna tell me why?"

"No particular reason." Jay shrugged.

"So you're telling me you've downed nearly a whole bottle of whiskey for no reason?"

"Yep." Jay said popping the p.

"Listen if this has something to do with what happened with Voight today –"

"It's got nothing to do with what happened with Voight." Jay said angrily, but it did have everything to do with Voight, just not what happened at work today.

"It was like you were deliberately trying to piss Voight off today." Antonio told him.

"What? So I'm just suppose to blindly follow whatever he decides to do? You've sure changed your tune." Jay snapped.

"There's questioning and then there's flat out insubordination which you were bordering on today Jay." Antonio warned Jay.

"So just because I don't kiss his ass like everyone else, I'm insubordinate? Give me a fucking break." Jay scoffed.

"You've been pissing Voight off all week, looking for a fight. Snapping at everyone else for no reason and totally ignoring Lindsay, who is suppose to be your partner."

"Leave Erin out of this. You have no idea what you're talking about." Jay said exploding out of his seat, knocking his bar stool to the ground with a loud clatter that had everyone one in Molly's going quiet and staring at the two detectives.

"Jay you need to get your shit together and quick or you'll be needing to find a new job." Antonio warned him leaning down to pick up the bar stool Jay had knocked over.

"Maybe that's not a bad idea." Jay said before tossing some money on the bar for his drinks. He unclipped his badge from his belt and put it on the bar on top of his money and stormed out of the bar. Leaving a shocked Antonio staring after him.

"What the fuck just happened here?" Antonio asked Gabby.

"That did not go well." Gabby said to Antonio.

"Ya think." Antonio said looking down to where Jay had put his badge on the bar.

"You can't just let him quit and walk out of here?"

"I think he needs to cool off for a bit."

"Are you sure that's a good idea. I've never seen him like that before."

"I'll swing by his place on my way home." Antonio promised.

"Ouch. Gabby what the hell?" Antonio asked rubbing his shoulder where his sister had just punched him.

"Dammit Antonio you could have been just a little understanding of what he's going through."

"What do you mean what he's going through?" Antonio wanted to know.

"Antonio for a detective you are pretty clueless."

"Gabby it's been a long night. Can you just say what you mean."

"Jay and Erin." Gabby said.

"What about Jay and Erin?" Antonio asked slightly confused and Gabby just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you trying to tell me there's something is going on between Jay and Erin?"

"Yeah. Well there was something going on. I think it's over now." Gabby told her brother.

"Well shit." Antonio said, but when he thought about it things started to make a lot more sense.

The bar door swung open with a bang and Erin Lindsay rushed into the bar. At the noise both Dawson siblings looked in her direction.

"I just got your message. What's going on? Where's Jay?" Erin asked Gabby looking around the bar for Jay but not spotting him any where.

"Unfortunately you're about ten minutes too late he's gone." Gabby told the blond detective as she continued to look around the bar worriedly for Jay.

"And you just let him leave? You said he was in a bad way." Erin said looking between the two siblings for answers.

"You can blame Mr Sensitive here for that." Gabby said pointing towards her brother.

"Well maybe if you had of explained the situation –" Antonio snapped back.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on." Erin asked, starting to get pissed off at the bickering siblings.

"Jay decided that it was a good idea to crawl into a bottle of whiskey to cure his broken heart." Gabby told leveling Erin with a knowing stare.

"I'm not sure what you think you know Gabby –" Erin said shooting a worried glance in Antonio's direction.

"Erin he quit. Jay quit." Antonio said pushing Jay's badge along the bar to where Erin stood.

"What do you mean he quit?" Erin asked her stomach dropping.

She knew he was struggling the decision to 'cool' things off between them, hell she was struggling too. She nearly caved and headed to his apartment a dozen times in the past week. She'd even gotten as far as the front door of his building but couldn't make herself go inside. Things between them had been strained to say the least and he'd barely said two words to her in the past couple of days. Then today when he'd clashed with Voight over how to deal with a suspect, he'd sided with Hank and told Jay she always would and that he needed to get over himself. She'd regretted what she'd said immediately, had seen the hurt in his eyes, but it had been too late to take it back.

"I told him he needed to get his shit together. Or he'd be looking for a new job. And he said 'that's not a bad idea.' Put his badge on the bar and walked out."

"I can't believe you just let him quit and walk out. He's meant to be your friend." Erin said angrily, but really she angry with herself.

"That's what I said." Gabby said.

"I may not have known what was going on. But I do know Jay well enough to know when he needs to cool down. Me going after him would have just pissed him off more."

"I need to go and find him." Erin said to no one in particular.

"Do you really think that's a good idea Erin?" Antonio asked her.

"Well it's better than standing here and doing nothing."

"I just meant that maybe it should be me to go and not you. I'm not sure if seeing you right now is what he needs."

"You think this is my fault too." Erin said her eyes filling.

"Erin –"

"No you're right. It is my fault and that's why I need to fix it. You may not believe this right now. But I do care about Jay. Probably more than I've ever cared about anyone." Erin said, picking up Jay's badge off the bar and placing it carefully in her coat pocket. Before racing out of the bar and quickly as she'd raced into it.

"You're on a roll that's two for two." Gabby said to Antonio.

"Yeah I think it's best I go home before I piss off or upset anyone else. I'll try not to kick any puppies and scare any children on my way home." Antonio said tiredly regretting ever answering his sister's phone call.

AN: Should I continue this story or not? Let me know what you think.

I don't think it will be a long one just a 3 to 4 part story.

I'm still writing my other story – just needed a small break and should update Dangerous Distractions in the next week or so.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** I own nothing. Just borrowing some characters to make the time pass a bit quicker until September 30.

Big thanks to everyone who reviewed and added this story to their alerts! Thanks xo

Chapter Song: I'm a Mess by Ed Sheeran

 **Welcoming The Burn**

 **Chapter Two**

Erin burst through the front door of Molly's back out into the frigid Chicago night. Reaching into her coat pocket for her cell phone she tried not to think about the added weight of Jay's badge. She swiped the screen and hit Jay's name in her contacts and waited for the call to connect. But it didn't. He must have turned his phone off. Which spoke volumes about his state of mind. Jay never turned his phone off. She only hoped she could find him and sort out the mess she had made before they got a call in from work and he didn't answer that. Because there would be hell to pay if Voight called them in and Jay didn't answer that call. Erin let out a frustrated sigh. She needed to fix this mess and fast.

Looking around Erin spotted Jay's car parked across the street and made a beeline for it to make sure he wasn't inside. He wasn't. She was thankful that he hadn't tried to drive home. Which meant he'd either caught a cab or walked the six blocks from Molly's to his apartment.

Erin jumped in her car and headed in towards Jay's apartment, keeping an eye out for him walking on her way. Seven minutes later she pulled up outside Jay's apartment building. She tried ringing Jay's cell phone once more before she got out of the car, but there was still no answer. She left a short message pleading with him to ring her.

She walked into the apartment building and the two flights of stairs that led the Jay's floor. Stopping outside his door she took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock on his door.

"Jay it's me Erin open up." Erin said banging her fist on the door of his apartment.

"Jay please open the door." She pleaded when there was still no answer.

She was just about to knock again when the door was suddenly opened to reveal a shirtless Halstead. Only it was the wrong Halstead brother.

"Where's Jay? I need to talk to him." Erin said brushing past the older Halstead brother into the apartment.

"Please come on in." Will said with a smirk and a shake of his head at Erin barging into his brother's apartment.

Erin walked further into the apartment looking for Jay, expecting to see him sitting on the couch. He wasn't.

"Feel free to take a seat and wait for him." Will told her.

"Why is he in the shower?" Erin asked starting to walk towards the bathroom.

"No he's not here." Will told her.

"What do you mean he's not here?" Erin asked walking across the room to Jay's bedroom.

"Exactly what I said. He hasn't been here all night." Will told her.

"If you are lying to me. I will kick you ass." Erin warned him.

"Why would I lie to you?" Will asked his hands raised in surrender.

"Can you ring him please?" Erin demanded hoping that if he wouldn't answer her call he would answer his brothers.

"What's going on? Did you guys have a fight?" Will asked but Erin just glared at him from across the room.

With a sigh Will walked over the Jay's back leather couch and picked up his cell phone and did what he was told. Rang his brother.

"Huh. That's weird. His phone must be turned off." Will said looking down at his phone.

"Shit." Erin said her hands covering her face as she sank to the chair across from the couch.

"What the hell is going on Erin? Is Jay in some kind of trouble?" Will asked her the concern for his brother evident on his face.

"I don't think so." Erin told him.

"That doesn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence. What happened?"

"I don't know if Jay told you about us –"

"I know you two were together. But he wasn't very forthcoming about the details, only that it ended."

"It did. But, well -– we kinda got into it at work today. I said something I shouldn't have. Something I didn't mean."

"Give him time. I'm sure he'll get over it." Will said.

"I don't think he will. I hurt him. Badly. I tried to apologize to him later but he blew me off. And then I got a phone call from Gabby saying Jay's at Molly's and he's in a state. Only I didn't get the call until later because I was trying to ring Jay. And then by the time I got to Molly's it was too late he was gone –'

"Take a breath." Will said. "He probably just went somewhere else –"

"He quit Will. He put his badge on the bar and left." Erin said, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

"No way. Jay would never do that." Will said shaking his head.

"Yeah well he did." Erin told Will taking Jay's badge out of her pocket and passing it to him.

"Well fuck." Will said and jumped up and pulling on a shirt and some shoes.

"What are you doing?" Erin asked the older Halstead brother.

"I'm going to go look for my brother." Will told her grabbing a jacket and his keys and wallet.

"I'm coming with you. I need to fix this mess." Erin said following him out the door and into the hallway.

"Any ideas on where to look?" Will asked her as they headed down the stairs.

"Yeah a couple bars. We could start at." Erin told him, "We can take my car." Erin told him.

"Yeah I kinda expected that." Will said thinking back to how Jay told him how Erin hardly ever lets him drive. "Hey did you try ringing Mouse?"

"Shit I didn't think about that." Erin pulled out her phone and called Mouse, pissed that she hadn't thought about ringing Jay's Army buddy earlier.

"Well?" Will asked when she ended the call a couple of minutes later.

"Mouse hasn't heard from Jay since he left the precinct today. But he's gonna put a trace on Jay's cell phone and can hopefully tell us where he is."

Erin and Will walked up to one of the bars Jay frequented, the one his friend Maddie worked at.

"Let me do the talking." Erin told Will as they walked though the door of the bar, causing Will to roll his eyes at her.

Erin didn't know if she should be relieved or worried when she didn't see Jay anywhere in the bar. She did however see Maddie working behind the bar.

"Hey Maddie I don't know if you remember me or not I'm –"

"Jay's partner. Sure I remember you." Maddie said her tone less than friendly.

"I'm Jay's brother Will. We were just wondering if Jay had been in here tonight?" Will asked with a charming smile, noting the tension between the brunette behind the bar and the blond standing next to him.

"Jay hasn't been in here in weeks." Maddie told Will, completely ignoring Erin.

"If you do happen to see him tonight can you give me a call." Will asked jotting his number down on a drink coaster and handing it to her.

"I can do that. But like I said I haven't seen Jay in weeks." Maddie said narrowing her eyes in Erin's direction.

"Thanks we appreciate it." Will said and turned to leave, all but dragging Erin out of the bar with him.

"What the hell Will. I thought we agreed that I do the talking." Erin fumed when they outside.

"I don't remember agreeing to that. Besides for some reason she doesn't seem to like you. She would have given you nothing."

"Yeah well she gave you nothing either. And I could tell she way lying. She has seen Jay. If not tonight, then recently." Erin said not wanting to think about Jay being with the pretty brunette bartender.

"Yeah well she's not gonna tell us anything else tonight."

Erin and Will tried a few other places they thought Jay may be, but with no luck. Phone calls to Antonio, Gabby, Mouse proved to be fruitless too. No one had heard from him. Jay's cell phone was still turned off and Mouse hadn't been able to trace it to a location. Wherever Jay was it appeared that he didn't want to be found. Something that both worried and frustrated Erin in equal measures.

It was just past four am when Erin pulled up our the front of Jay's building. With both Will and Erin hoping that Jay had arrived home while they had been out looking for him.

Will wasn't all that surprised when Erin locked her car and followed him inside. The apartment silent and empty when they walked in. Jay obviously still not home.

"I was hoping he might have come home." Erin said with a tired sigh.

"Yeah me too. Listen why don't you head home and get some sleep. There's nothing else we can do right now. He'll come home when he wants to. I'll ring you as soon as he gets home." Will said when he noticed how exhausted she looked.

"No. I'll stay and wait for him." Erin was adamant she wasn't going anywhere.

"Ok." Will said and headed for Jay's spare room which he had claimed as his own.

Erin walked into Jay's darkened bedroom, wishing she could take back the words she'd said to him at work today, words she hadn't meant. Words that she knew would hurt him, but said anyway.

After shrugging out of her coat and taking her boots off, Erin crawled onto Jay's bed his badge clutched in one hand her phone in the other, and sleep claimed her.

"Erin wake up –" A familiar voice said, accompanied by a gentle shaking of her shoulder, jerking her from a dreamless sleep.

"Jay –" Erin gasped out sitting up, memories of the previous night flooding in.

"He's still not home." Will told her with a shake of his head. "Your phone has been ringing of the past ten minutes."

"Shit." Erin said looking around for her phone, which had somehow found it's way under Jay's pillow.

Erin looked at her phone and saw she had fifteen missed calls.

"Have you heard from Jay?" Erin asked Will her voice husky from sleep.

"Not yet. But if he drank as much as you said last night. He's probably sleeping it off somewhere." Will said trying not to let his concern for his brother show. There was no way he was going to tell Erin that he had spent the last two hours on the phone to every hospital in the Chicago area seeing if anyone with Jay's description had been brought it.

Erin scrolled through her missed calls and listened to her messages. Antonio and Gabby wanting to know if she'd found Jay. Mouse letting her know he still hadn't heard from Jay, but was still trying to track his phone down. Ruzek letting her know it was her and Jay's day to stop and get coffee. And two calls from Voight wanting to know where the hell she was. Nothing from Jay.

"Shit." Erin said as she noticed the time. It was nearly nine am and she was late for work. "I need to go to work."

"I'll let you know when I hear from him." Will promised her, hoping that it was 'when' and not 'if' he heard from his brother.

"Thanks. I'll keep let you know if I find anything on my end." Erin told him, while she hurriedly shoved her feet into her boots and put on her coat, Jay's badge one again safely in her pocket.

Erin raced out of Jay's apartment trying to decide what if anything to tell the rest of the unit about Jay. After an internal debate Erin decided it was probably for the best that she tell everyone Jay was sick. At least until she could find him.

When Erin raced up the font stairs of the precinct ten minutes later it was only then that she realized she was still in yesterday's clothes.

"Nothing I can do about that now." Erin muttered to herself buttoning up her coat. After a quick nod to Platt, who just arched a brow at her. Erin scanned in and ran up the stair to the Intelligence Unit.

"Erin nice of you to join us." Came Voight's gravelly as she walked over to her desk. "Where the hell is Halstead?" Voight wanted to know.

"Umm he's sick. Flu." Erin said looking over at Jay's empty desk hoping to avoid eye contact with Voight.

"And he didn't think to call in?" A clearly pissed off Voight asked.

"Sorry my bad. He rang this morning. I meant to tell you." Antonio told him, as he caught Erin's eye, obviously having the same thought as her.

Clearly not impressed with Jay's absence and Erin's tardiness Voight narrowed his eyes at the room in general.

"Lindsay my office now." Voight barked before heading into his office.

Erin unbuttoned her coat draping it over the back of her chair before turning to head into Voight's office.

"Hey Lindsay isn't that what you were wearing yesterday? Big night huh?" Ruzek asked her with a smirk.

Erin ignored him and walked into Voights office closing the door behind her.

"What's up." Erin asked wishing she had, had time for a cup of coffee before facing Hank after a horror twenty-four hours.

"That's what I'd like to know?" Hank demanded. "You out partying last night Erin?"

"What? No." Erin stammered out.

"Well what the hell is going on then? You finally decide to come to work nearly an hour late, looking like shit and wearing the same clothes as yesterday."

"It's not like that I promise." Erin said her eyes pleading with him to drop the subject.

"I don't believe you." Hank said angrily.

"I can explain –" Erin started when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

There was a quick knock on Hank's office door, the door was flung open and Antonio and Mouse walked in both visibly distressed.

"We have a problem." Antonio said.

Erin's phone buzzed her in pocket again. She got her phone out looking down at the screen. It was an unknown number. Erin swiped to answer the call, bringing her cell to her ear. Her blood running cold when heard voices on the other end of the line.

"Oh God." Erin whispered her phone dropping out of her suddenly numb fingers bouncing off Voight's desk with a crack onto the floor, clattering to a stop on the floor at her feet.

 **TBC...**

Who was on the phone? What is the problem Antonio speaks of? Can Maddie be trusted? And most importantly where is Jay and is he ok?

Well you'll just have to wait and see ;)

AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Look forward to hearing what you think.

Sneak Peek.

Chapter Three.

The first thing Jay became aware of was the blinding pain in his head.

The second was that he had no idea where the hell he was or how he got there.

The third was that he was in trouble. Big trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Sorry for any mistakes I have made.

A big thanks to everyone who has reviewed and favorited and added this story to their alerts!

Hope you enjoy this chapter and don't want to kill me too much at the end! ;)

 **Chapter Three**

The first thing Jay became aware of was the blinding pain in his head. The pain so intense it felt like his head was going to explode.

With a groan he tried to clutch his aching head, and immediately regretted the move when a wave of nausea hit him. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck and then backed over. Repeatedly.

Aside from the pain in his head, Jay's left side was on fire, with what felt like a couple of cracked ribs and judging by the pain in his right arm, there was a good chance it may be broken. When he tried to move into a more comfortable position another wave of pain flashed though him and Jay sank back into oblivion.

The next thing Jay became aware of other than the pain, was that he was freezing and lying on a cold hard surface. He cracked an eye open cautiously. Nothing about the freezing room was familiar. At. All.

It looked like he was in a basement of some sort, comprised of a concrete floor and brick walls. There was only one dirty window letting in a small amount of dim light, and it was up high and covered in bars.

And only one door, which was shut.

Jay had no clue where the hell he was and absolutely no memory of how he ended up there.

The last thing Jay remembered was leaving work and getting into his car, then nothing until he woke up in his current position.

Slowly and carefully Jay sat up trying not to move his head, cradling his arm to his chest. He moved to lean back against the brick wall opposite the door.

A quick inspection told him his wallet, phone and keys were all missing.

Jay might not know where he was, or how he got there. But he did know one thing. He was in trouble. Big trouble.

Two tours of Afghanistan and his time on the police force had taught him to follow his instincts and those instincts were screaming at him 'to get the hell out of there,' as quickly as he could.

Jay used the wall to steady himself as he slowly got to his feet, gritting his teeth as the pain intensified. Leaning weakly against the wall, Jay waited for his vision to clear, and the pain to subside a bit, before he shuffled his way to the door on unsteady legs.

By the time he made it the few feet to the door, Jay was shaking covered in sweat despite the freezing temperature of the room.

"Fuck." Jay muttered as he tried the door handle and it didn't budge under his grip no matter how many times he tired to open it.

Taking a step back lifted his leg, ready to kick his way though the door if necessary. But the only thing Jay's kick to the door succeeded in doing was bringing him to to knees as pain overwhelmed him. This time he was unable to breath though the nausea that hit him.

Jay really hoped that someone had noticed he was missing by now. Surely Erin would notice that he was gone? Right?

And it was then that Jay was hit with memories of the events from the previous day at work. Clashing with Voight over the case they were working on and then his argument with Erin. Her telling him she would always choose Voight over him. Feeling like she'd ripped the heart out of his chest.

Then he remembered what had happened after he left work. Heading to Molly's. Drinking. Talking to Gabby. Drinking some more. Antonio turning up. Arguing. And him tossing his badge on the bar. Quitting the Unit. Just like Erin had quit them.

"Shit." Jay said. Maybe no one would notice he was missing after all.

The problem was, that there was no way he was getting out of wherever the hell he was, though the locked door, and with his injuries Jay wasn't sure he could manage trying to get out the window. Looking around the sparse room Jay tired to find something. Anything that could help break him out. But apart from him the room was completely empty.

Jay stumbled over to where the window was situated high above his head. He had no idea what time it was, but if the dim light coming though the grimy window was any indication it was some time after dawn. Which meant he was missing about seven hours. Maybe more.

Sinking down to lean against the wall, Jay had no idea how long he sat there trying to work out a plan to get himself out of there when he heard a noise outside the door, putting him immediately on high alert.

Jay moved quickly to the door, adrenalin pumping though him masking the pain, and crouched next to the door. Wishing he had some sort of weapon. But ready for whatever came next.

Jay heard a key in the lock and seconds later the door swung inwards and a middle aged guy walked into the room. Jay quickly made his move, grabbling the unsuspecting man in a choke hold. He was able to incapacitate the man within seconds and his dead weight dropped to the cold concrete floor at Jay's feet. Jay turned to take off out of the room, but didn't get far. With his focus on taking the guy in front of him down he failed to notice a second guy walking into the room. Jay didn't even have time to raise his arms in defense before a pipe was swung at his head.

Pain exploded in his head. His life flashed before his eyes. The last thing he saw was Erin smiling up at him.

Then everything went black. And he saw nothing at all.

* * *

Erin looked down at her smashed cell phone the color leeching from her face leaving her ghost white.

"I need to go." Erin mumbled, trying but failing to make herself move from where she stood rooted to the floor in front of Hank's desk.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Hank bellowed looking from a distraught Erin to a concerned Antonio and Mouse, clearly wanting answers.

"I need ... to go." Erin said again.

"Erin was that Jay?" Antonio asked.

Shaking her head Erin blindly reached down to the floor for her cell phone, the screen of which was a spiderweb of broken glass.

"Someone had better start talking. And fast." Voight said.

"Mouse was able to turn on Jay's phone remotely and get us a location." Antonio said looking at Erin.

"And why would he have to do that? I thought Halstead was home with the flu?" Voight asked angrily.

"Jay's not at home with the flu." Antonio told him.

"So you and Erin decided to lie to me?" Voight said slamming his hands on his desk. "Someone start explaining. And it had better be good."

"Jay left Molly's last night and hasn't been seen or heard from since. His phone switched off." Antonio explained.

"Is that where you were last night?" Voight asked Erin who nodded her head.

"I need to go." Erin said again and moved towards the door.

"I think you need to see this before you go." Antonio said to Erin pointing to the tablet that Mouse held in his hands.

"As I said Mouse was able to turn on Jay's phone and we located it a block from your apartment Erin." Antonio said giving Erin an apologetic look.

"He was headed to my place?" Erin asked shakily.

"We think so." Mouse said.

"And why would that be?" Hank asked Erin.

"That's not important right now." Antonio said. "We checked the pods in the area and found this."

Mouse clicked on the tablet and brought up a slightly grainy image of what looked to be Jay walking down the street, apparently headed to Erin's apartment. They watched as Jay stopped, took his phone out of his pocket and looked down at it.

Then they could only look on in horror as, while Jay was momentarily distracted with his phone. A dark colored sedan pulled up next to him, two guys got out, one appeared to say something to Jay while the other swung a bat or pipe at Jay. He raised an arm to try and fend off the blow from the second man, and then the first man struck Jay in the back of the head and he dropped to the pavement. Both men kicking an unconscious Jay before picking him up and tossing him into the back of their car.

"Oh my god." Erin gasped, covering her mouth with a shaking hand, horrified at what they had just seen. And then she remembered the phone call she received minutes before and couldn't stop the tears that ran down her pale cheeks. "Oh no." She cried out and took off out of Hank's office.

"Erin wait. Where are you going?" Antonio asked as he Mouse and Hank followed her out into the bullpen.

"I need to go to see Will." Erin explained wiping her eyes before grabbing her coat and searching frantically for her car keys. "Has anyone seen my keys?"

"I need to go. And I can't leave if I can't find my God Damn keys." Erin said moving papers in search of her missing keys. "Where the fuck are they?" Erin asked scattering the items on her desk to the floor.

"Erin calm down." Voight said placing his hands on her shoulders, his anger from before fading as concern over Jay and now Erin had taken over. "I'll take you where you need to go." He promised her.

"I need to go to the hospital. Will called they brought someone in fitting Jay's description."

"I'll drive you there myself. Antonio you fill everyone in on the situation. I want that phone. And I want an ID on those two guys and that car found yesterday. Let me know the second you have anything."

"Will do. Let us know what you find out at the hospital."

"Erin is Will going to meet at the ER?" Hank asked her. "Erin?" He asked her again when she just continued to stare at Jay's empty desk shaking her head.

"We aren't going to the ER." Erin said barely above a whisper.

"Where are we going then?" Hank asked confused.

"The Morgue. Will wanted me to come with him to identify the body." Erin said tears streaming down her face.

The next ten minutes were a blur. Later Erin couldn't remember leaving the precinct or the car ride over to the hospital. But suddenly that's where she and Hank were. They met a distressed looking Will Halstead out the front of the hospital.

"Please tell me Jay turned up at work and there's no way this can be him." Will pleaded as Erin and Hank Voight walked up to him.

"I'm so sorry Will." Erin said her thick with tears as they walked into the hospital and then into the elevator that would take them down to the Morgue.

"It's not Jay right? It can't be." Will said in a shaky voice.

"I'm sure it's not." Erin said, and was praying like crazy she was right and it wasn't Jay laying down there on a trolley cold and devoid of life.

"I can do this. You two can stay here." Hank said to Will and Erin as they stepped out the elevator.

"No I need to see for myself." Will said and Erin nodded in agreement. As much as she didn't want to walk through that door she needed to.

Hank flashed his badge and explained why they were there, then stayed put while Erin and Will walked down the hallway and into a viewing room.

Erin took a shaky breath and caught Will's hand in hers as they walked into the viewing room.

An attendant nodded in their direction as he saw them enter, and when they were ready pulled back the white sheet to reveal...

AN: Please review and let me know what you think.

Is it still really not September 30?

Next Chapter: Is Jay dead or alive? All will be revealed in the next chapter…..Maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed and added this story.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes I have made.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Song: Take Me to Church by Hozier**

(Would you believe I already had this song chosen before I saw the promo with this song in it) True story.

 **Chapter Four**

Hank Voight leaned against the wall outside the viewing room Erin and Will had walked into moments earlier and waited for them to come back out when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Go for Voight."

"We've got Jay's cell phone." Antonio told him.

"Anything useful there?" Voight wondered.

"Mouse is doing his thing at the moment. Any news from your end?"

"Not yet –" Hank started then stopped abruptly when Erin charged out of the viewing room and tore into the hallway shrugging off his attempt to stop her.

"Erin?" Hank called after her but she was long gone. "Antonio. I've gotta go I'll call you back."

"It wasn't him. It wasn't Jay." Will Halstead said to Hank, his relief evident.

* * *

Jay was jerked back from the darkness. Violently. He gasped for air and sputtered, shivering as ice cold water was thrown at him from somewhere above, then hands were grabbing him, dragging him to his feet.

Four hands, which meant there was at least two people in the room with him. Jay cracked opened the eye that wasn't swollen shut, and saw two men, both with masks on, so he couldn't see who they were, but there wasn't anything that struck him as familiar about the two goons.

He was unsure how many more there were, but he wasn't going to make it easy on them. He struck out, hitting and kicking at anything he could, but the hands that held him only gripped him tighter.

Jay was dragged into the middle of the room and when they had him where they wanted him, they shoved him to his knees and taped his hands together in front of him. A punishing blow to the kidneys told him that there was indeed someone else in the room.

"We finally meet Detective Halstead." A voice said from behind him and quickly followed by another blow to his kidneys that sent him sprawling face first onto the concrete floor.

"I must have missed the part where you introduced yourself." Jay said clenching his teeth against the pain.

"Oh I didn't introduce myself. But there will be plenty of time for that." Jay was told smugly.

The two goons grabbed him by the arms and hauled him back to his feet, and Jay got his first look at the third guy, as he stepped around in front of where Jay stood. The guy who, it appeared was calling all the shots. He was shorter than Jay, probably just under six foot, and looked to be around his early to mid twenties, caucasian and had a slight accent that Jay couldn't place. Jay had absolutely no clue who the hell he was, but apparently he knew who Jay was.

"String him up." He said with a smug look on his face.

Goon number one tied a rope around Jay's taped hands, then tossed the rope to Goon number two, who threw the rope over the copper pipe overhead and pulled.

Jay tried once more to fight them but with his injuries and tied hands, they had effectively incapacitated him.

He cried out as they pulled his arms above his head, the pain in his arm and ribs enough to dim his vision, and steal his breath.

"It's not going to work you know." Jay said huskily.

"What's that Detective Halstead?" He asked Jay, his smirk still in place.

"Whatever you think taking me is going to get you. It's not going to work." Jay told him.

"Oh I don't plan on getting anything for you. Apart from the pleasure of watching you get what you deserve."

"And what is that exactly?" Jay wanted to know, trying to work out what the motivation behind his abduction.

"You destroyed my family, so I intend to destroy yours."

"And tell me how exactly did I do that?" Jay asked looking for any clues on this guy's identity.

"That's enough talking for now." He said nodding to the two goons flanking Jay, then moved to lean against the wall beside the door, his smirk in place once more.

Jay tried to brace for the attack he knew was coming but wasn't ready for the ferocity of the blows that struck him. His back, his ribs, his face, wherever they could get a blow in. They were relentless and vicious in their attack.

He must have blacked out at some stage, because once again they roused him with ice cold water pouring over his head.

"Don't go passing out on us Jay. Can I call you Jay? This is just starting to get interesting." He said jerking Jay's head up by the hair.

Jay could barely open his eyes now, every single part of his body screaming with pain. He tried to make his mind go somewhere else, to a place where pain didn't exist. Unfortunately that didn't last long, and he was once again dragged back to pain of reality.

Jay lost track to time and everything else after that. They would beat him until he blacked out, then throw water on him until he woke up then they would repeat the process. Again. And again.

Jay wasn't sure what eventually woke him up. He found himself no longer tied up, but shivering on the cold concrete floor, they'd stripped him of his jacket and hoody at some stage and he was left freezing cold in jeans wet from the water they kept throwing on him.

* * *

Erin stormed out the front door of Chicago Med, trying to keep her breathing and her emotions under control.

She paced up and down the sidewalk waiting for Hank to emerge from inside the hospital.

"You ok kid?" Hank asked her when he finally walked out of the entrance.

Erin just shook her head. " We need to find Jay." Was all she said and headed for Hank's SVU.

Erin was silent on the drive back to the precinct a fact which worried Hank, when they pulled into his parking spot.

"Erin I need to know you've got your head on straight." Hank said placing a hand on her arm to stop her from jumping out of the car.

"As straight as it's gonna be with my partner missing." Erin fumed, shrugged Hank's hand off her arm and got out of the car.

Hank sighed at her answer and quickly followed her into the twenty-first district.

"Where are we at?" Hank said as soon as he cleared the stairs and walked into the bullpen.

"As I said on the phone earlier we have Jay's phone." Antonio said.

"Did you get anything off it?" Erin asked the emotion of the morning making her voice huskier than normal.

"It was pretty smashed up. But Mouse is working on it." Antonio told them.

"Have we got anything on the two guys that took Halstead or anything on the car?" Hank put the question to the room.

"So far we don't have anything on the two perps." Kevin said with a shake of his head.

"We were able to track the car for a couple of blocks, but the they must have swapped into another vehicle." Ruzek said.

"I want that car found and gone over with a fine tooth comb." Hank demand, "What?" Hank asked when he saw the look between Ruzek and Antonio.

"They torched the first car." Antonio said.

"So we've got nothing?" Erin fumed. "Jay's out there somewhere hurt and we don't have a fucking thing to go on?" Erin said her last word finishing on a sob.

"Erin –" Hank started.

"I may have something." Mouse told them as he barged into the bullpen.

"Show me." Hank said.

"I was able to track where Jay went after he left Molly's. He made one more stop near Elm and Grace."

"I knew that bitch was lying to me." Erin spat out. She knew exactly where Jay had gone after he left Molly's, he'd gone to O'Shay's.

"Who?" Ruzek wanted to know.

"Jay's friend Maddie."

"Explain." Hank demanded.

"Will and I went looking for Jay last night. We went into O'Shay's and his friend Maddie was working. I asked if Jay had been there and she said no. I knew that bitch was lying to me."

"Antonio, Al go and bring her in." Hank told them.

"Wait. That's not all I found." Mouse said bringing everyone's attention back to him.

"Jay must have been in the middle of leaving a message when he was grabbed. The message was never actually sent but I was able to find audio of it." Mouse explained.

"Well play it then." Hank growled.

"Umm, well. It's kinda personal." Mouse stuttered sending Erin an apologetic look.

"Play the damn message." Hank repeated.

"OK." Mouse said and pressed the button that would play the message for the gathered detectives.

"Look I'm heading to your place. We need to talk." They heard Jay say gruffly and Erin sank to the chair behind her desk dropping her head in her hands, he had called her and she hadn't picked up, he'd been on his way to her place when he'd been taken.

"I realize that Voight is never gonna give his blessing and that you don't want to loose your job." Jay continued, and Erin didn't have to raise her head to know that all eyes in the room were on her. "But what if that wasn't an issue anymore?" They heard him take a deep breath and continue, "I quit the unit. Erin I lo –" Whatever Jay had been about to say was cut off, they heard a few murmured words, what sounded like a scuffle, which they knew was Jay being hit and then silence.

"Well shit." Ruzek said.

"I was able to isolate and enhance the last few seconds." Mouse told them and pressed a couple more buttons on his tablet.

"Jay Halstead?" They heard someone ask.

"Who wants to know?" They heard Jay answer.

"It's him boss." Someone said

"Get him." It sounded like someone said before the scuffle started.

"So it wasn't random." Al said.

"They knew exactly who he was." Kevin agreed.

"Alright Al and Antonio you go pick up this Maddie." Hank instructed.

"Atwater, Ruzek I want whatever is left of that car. And I want uniforms out there knocking on doors. One of our own is missing, we don't stop until we bring him home." He continued without any of his usual bluster then walked into his office and closed the door.

"We're gonna find him Erin." Antonio promised resting a hand on her should before heading out with Al.

Erin heard Kevin and Adam leave soon after neither of them saying anything to her. They probably and rightfully blamed her for this whole mess too.

"Erin I'm sorry." Mouse said sincerely from in front of her desk and she finally raised her head from her hands.

"Not your fault Mouse. That's on me." Erin said sadly.

"No it's on whoever took Jay." Mouse told her and turned to leave.

"Can you play that audio again before you leave. The vision from the pod too."

"Erin –" Mouse said reluctant to follow her wishes, but caved quickly when she shot him a glare.

Erin wasn't sure how long she sat there watching the vision of Jay being hit with a pipe and tossed into a car, and listening to the phone call she never got. After about the third time Erin rubbed at her tired eyes as the screen of the tablet blurred, and looked up at the clock on the wall. It was just after midday now. Jay had been missing now for just over twelve hours.

With a shuddering breath Erin once again looked down at the tablet this time taking notes on what she saw and looking beyond Jay for something or anything they may have missed before.

She looked towards Nadia's desk hoping for another set of eyes but her room mate was nowhere in sight. Erin thought back and couldn't remember seeing Nadia earlier either. Strange.

Erin looked at the closed door of Hank's office, picked up the table, and headed in that direction. She needed another set of eyes so she could be sure she wasn't

seeing things.

* * *

Jay heard a noise, but couldn't summon up the energy to move. This time when they jerked him to his feet he didn't put up a fight. Jay expected them to tie him to the copper pipe again, but this time they taped his hands behind him and tied him to a chair that appeared from somewhere.

"Got nothing to say this time Jay?" He was asked.

"That's a shame because your girlfriend had a lot to say."

"Don't have a girlfriend." Jay mumbled not wanting to give the 'little prick' as he thought of him anything.

"Sure you do. That pretty little detective. What's her name boys?" He said leaning over where Jay sat tied to the chair.

"Erin." One of the goons answered and Jay tried not to react to the fact that they knew not only her name but about the two of them.

"That's right Detective Erin Lindsay. Pretty little thing. Feisty." He said and Jay snapped.

He kicked out and struck the 'little prick' in the knee satisfied when he heard a crack, that didn't last long as one of the goons kicked the chair out from underneath Jay.

"You shouldn't have done that." He was told.

"I'm really going to enjoy fucking your little girlfriend. I hope she puts up more of fight than you. I like it when they fight. And then when I'm done with her. I'm gonna bring her in here and make you watch me kill her. Slowly." The 'little prick' snarled at him before he and the two goons left Jay where he was on the floor on top of the broken chair.

It was only when the door slammed the behind them that Jay let out a pained groan. They didn't really have Erin did they? Shit.

Jay didn't even bother trying to work out how badly he was injured this time. He knew it was bad, he could feel part of the broken wooden chair sticking out of where it had pierced his side. Everything hurt, even just trying to open his eyes hurt, so Jay kept his eyes closed and did something he hadn't done since things went to shit over in Afghanistan. He prayed.

AN: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please let me know what you think.

Has everyone see the season 3 promo yet? I can't wait.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing just borrowing a few characters.

AN: Thanks to everyone for the reviews, favourites and follows.

Hope you enjoy the chapter! I apologise for any mistakes made.

Song: No Light, No Light by Florence and The Machine

 **Chapter Five**

With the tablet clutched tight in her hand, Erin made a beeline for Hank's office, opening the door and entering the office without bothering to knock. Expecting to see him sitting at his desk, she was slightly surprised to see him looking out the window in his office, down to the street below, hands on his hips.

"How long?" Hank asked without turning to look at her.

"How long what?" Erin wondered still distracted with watching Jay being bashed and abducted over and over again.

"How long has this thing been going on with you and Halstead?"

"There's nothing going on with me and Jay." Erin said with a shake of her head.

"So you're just going to stand there and lie to my face for the second time today?" Hank snarled, finally turning to look at her, a leveling her with a withering glare.

"What do you want me to say Hank?" Erin asked. "Do you want me to tell you that Jay and I were together. That we were talking about a future together? That we were happy together. Well we were. But you made it abundantly clear that we would loose our jobs if we were together. Is that what you want to hear Hank?

"Erin –" Hank started but Erin wasn't interested in anything he had to say at that moment.

"Or maybe you want to hear about how I was the happiest that I've ever been with Jay, that I think I could be in love with him. But because I didn't want to loose my job or your respect I ended things. I managed to fuck up the best thing that's ever happened to me and in the process hurt the most important person in my life."

"Erin–" Hank tried again.

"Is that what you want me to tell you Hank? Because right now the only thing that should matter is finding Jay and bringing him home alive. Because anything less than that and I will never forgive myself." Erin finished on a sob, chest heaving she turned around and walked out of the office, slamming the door shut so hard it was a miracle that the glass didn't shatter.

Swiping at the tears running down her face Erin dropped the tablet on her desk then rushed through the empty bullpen and down the corridor and into the locker room, which too was thankfully empty.

Erin paced back and forth in in the locker room she found herself stopping in front of her locker, the place where they decided to cool their relationship. And she lost it. She stood there gasping for breath, tears running down her face. Swinging her arm back she punched her locker, welcoming the burn of pain that radiated up her arm. So she did it again. And again. Until her knuckles were spit and her hand was as numb as she wished her heart was.

Erin sank down to the floor in front of her locker, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her head on her knees.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, but eventually she was pulled from her reverie by the sound of the locker room door opening and closing.

"Erin." She heard Hank's gravelly voice from somewhere above her, but didn't acknowledge him.

She heard him sigh loudly as he settled himself down next to her on the floor.

"Erin I need you to pull yourself together. Because Halstead is gonna need you when we bring him home." Hank told her.

"What if it's too late? What if we're too late? And what if he can't forgive me?" Erin voiced her deepest fears out loud.

"What if he can." He told her. "Come on kid lets get you cleaned up."

Hank lead her over to sink, worried by her bloodshot eyes and pale face. He ran cold water and handed her a damp wad of paper.

He grasped her hand when he saw the pulpy, bloody mess that was her knuckles.

"You need to get that hand looked at." Hank told her.

"It's fine." Erin told him snatching her hand from his grasp, and was thankful when his phone rang distracting him. He answered the call, shooting her a stern look then walked back out of the locker room, leaving her alone with her thoughts once more.

Erin took a couple more minutes to get herself under control before she headed back through the bullpen, picking up the tablet from her desk intending to go downstairs to see Mouse, when she spotted a dazed looking Will Halstead walking up the stairs towards her.

"Hey I just saw Sargent Platt downstairs, she tried to call up, but no one answered so she buzzed me up." Will explained.

"Yeah sorry. I'm not sure where Nadia is, and everyone else is out. Come on up." Erin told him and led him into the break room and waved him into a chair and poured them both a much needed coffee.

"Please tell me you know something?" Will asked her hopefully.

"We found Jay's phone." Erin told him, not sure how much of what they had found out she should tell him.

"And?"

"And we were able to pull some footage from a pod near where we found Jay's phone." Erin continued.

"So you know what happened to Jay?"

"Yeah."

"I need to know Erin." Will pleaded.

Erin looked down at the cup on coffee in front of her, trying to decide what to tell him.

"Please —"

"Jay was jumped by two guys and tossed into the back of a car." Erin told him in rush of words, as if the quicker she could say them, it would somehow lessen the impact.

"I want to see the footage." Will told her.

"Will I don't think that's a good idea." Erin said with a shake of her head.

"Erin he's my brother I have a right to know what happened to him."

"Will –"

"Erin I'm watching that footage." Will was adamant.

"It's pretty brutal Will." Erin tried to explain.

"I don't care." Will told her, and she reluctantly handed him the tablet.

"What happened to your hand?" Will asked her.

"Nothing. It's fine." Erin told him and hid her hand behind her back and out of his sight. She leaned over and tapped the screen and the footage started to play.

Erin didn't watch the footage again, instead watching Will closely.

She could tell the moment the moment Jay was hit and fell to the ground, Will gasped and the color leeching out of his face. When the footage finished he gripped the tablet his knuckles white.

"Fuck. You weren't wrong." Will said rubbing an unsteady hand over his face.

"We are doing everything we possibly can to find him. I promise you that." Erin told him.

"Yeah but its been over twelve hours now since he was taken. If he has a head injury or –"

"We're going to find him." Erin said squeezing his hand, and praying she was right.

Will tapped at the screen so he could watch the footage again.

"Hey Erin, uh Will." Mouse said walking into the break room with a laptop in his hands.

"Hey Mouse." Will said looking up at his brother's Army buddy.

"Erin do you have a minute." Mouse asked.

"What's up."

"I was able to find some more vision of Jay being taken from a private security camera." Mouse said.

"How did you manage to get that?" Erin asked.

"You probably don't want to know." Mouse said with a wry grin. "But you definitely need to see it." He continued placing the laptop on the table in front of her.

They watched the new footage that was from a slightly different angle than the first, this one showing clearly what Erin thought she had seen before.

A second car pulling up just after the first, but on the other side of the road. They watch two men get out of the first car, the two talk briefly to Jay, which from the audio Erin knew, was when they said Jay's name. One of the men looks straight at the second car, which must be when they heard 'it's him.' Then Jay is hit first by one then the second guy and when he is obviously unconscious, tossed into the car. The two men jump into the car and tear away from the curb heading north. Then they see the second car make a u-turn and follow behind the first car

"So I wasn't seeing things then." Erin said almost to herself, she'd thought, she'd seen another car after watching the other clip for about the tenth time, but couldn't get a good enough angle to be absolutely certain.

"No."

"I need to show Hank this." Erin said ready to jump to her feet.

"Show me what?" Hank said from the doorway.

"I, ah –" Mouse started.

"Mouse found some more footage you need to see." Erin told Hank then showed him the new vision.

"I want this second car found." Hank told them.

"I um, was able to track it three blocks north to where they torched the first car. Then the second car heads west for three blocks and then it just disappears." Mouse explained.

"How can it just disappear?" Will asked.

"Thats not necessarily a bad thing." Hank said.

"How's that?" Will asked incredulously.

"It means that we have an area to start searching in." Erin said.

Mouse took off muttering about narrowing the search area down and finding blueprints of buildings in the area.

Hank grabbed his phone and called Atwater and Ruzek telling them to get back to the precinct.

"Will can you take a look at Erin's hand." Hank demanded before he walked back out into the bullpen.

"Where's the First Aid kit?" Will asked.

"It's fine don't worry about it." Erin said after Will gently pushed her back into the chair she had vacated.

"And disobey a direct order from a scary guy with a gun? No way. You might have a death wish. But I don't." Will said, "So where's the First Aid kit Erin."

"Under the sink." Erin said rolling her eyes at him. It seemed that both Halstead brothers had a flair for the dramatic.

Will cleaned her hand up, telling her she was lucky she didn't need any stitches.

"Ouch." Erin said and jerked her hand out of his grasp when he probed the knuckle of her middle finger.

"I'm guessing there's no way I can get you to come down to Chicago Med with me so I can x-ray your hand?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No way." Erin agreed.

"I think you might have cracked your knuckle." Will told her.

"It'll be fine, so long as I don't have to punch anyone."

When Will was satisfied he'd done enough to avoid Hank's wrath, he and Erin walked into the bullpen to the sound of the phone ringing madly on Nadia's desk.

"Where the hell is she?" Erin muttered, waving Will to sit at Jay's vacant desk as she walked over to her MIA flatmates desk and picked up the phone.

* * *

Time ceased to exist for Jay as he drifted in and out of the darkness, the only thing that was consistent besides the blinding pain was the freezing temperature of the basement.

When the darkness lifted Jay was no longer sure how long he'd been there on the freezing concrete floor. It could have been minutes, hours or even days.

Sometimes when the darkness lifted Jay thought he was back in Afghanistan, other times his mother was there with him placing a cool hand on his burning forehead, comforting him like she had when he'd been sick as a child.

Then there were the times he could hear her screaming. Those times were the worst.

"No." Jay mumbled as he fought invisible hands that tried to hold him down, when he needed to get to her.

He could hear her screaming for him. He had to save her. He couldn't let them hurt her.

He fought harder, desperate in his need to get to where she was.

Jay was too far gone to recognize that the hands that he fought weren't really there.

Some time later Jay drifted out of the darkness once again again, blinking his eyes open as much as the swelling would allow to see vacant hazel eyes staring at him, her hair falling across her face.

"No. Erin." Jay cried out, moving to crawl over to where she lay across the room from him in a pool of blood.

* * *

With a muttered curse Erin picked up the phone only to hear static and white noise on the other end of the line and then the call dropped out completely causing Erin to once again curse and then question where the hell Nadia had gotten to. Of all the times for her to go missing, she had to choose the worst possible day to go MIA.

Will walked out of the break room and Erin waved him to sit at Jay's vacant desk.

Fishing her broken phone out of her pocket Erin warned Will to stay put and was about to head down stairs to see if Mouse could track Nadia's phone for her when hurried footsteps sounded on the stairs then Alvin and Antonio burst into the bullpen with a sullen looking Maddie.

It took every bit of self restraint Erin possessed not to go over a slap the lying bitch. If she had of told her and Will the truth last night they might have been able to work out that something had happened to Jay last night rather than this morning.

Antonio shot her a glare in warning, as if he could read her mind, as they led the brunette bartender through the bullpen and down the hallway into one of the interview rooms.

Erin waited a couple of seconds before she followed and let herself into the viewing room, pressing the button that would allow her to hear everything being said in the interview room. Hank walked in to join her moments later.

"I'm not sure why you had to bring me here. I have no idea where Jay Halstead is, like I told you back at the bar." Maddie said to Antonio.

"So when Detective Lindsay and Will Halstead asked you if Jay Halstead had been in your bar last night, that was the truth?" Antonio asked as Alvin leaned against the wall arms folded saying nothing.

"Yes." Maddie said looking down at her clasped hands resting on the table in front of her.

"Funny thing is we know for a fact that Jay stopped in at O'Shay's last night." Antonio added.

"So you want to try that question again." Al said from his spot against the wall.

"Not sure why it matters but yes Jay did come in last night. But not for long. He didn't even finish his drink." Maddie told them.

"It matters because after Detective Halstead left your bar last night he went missing."

"What do you mean he went missing?"

"I mean that ten minutes after he walked out of your bar last night Jay was abducted." Antonio said angrily, quickly loosing his patience with the brunette.

"So take us though every minute from the time he walked into the bar, to the minute he walked out. Anything strange stand out, any unfamiliar faces. We need to know everything." Alvin added.

"It was busy last night, I didn't see Jay come in, but he came up to the bar and ordered a whisky." Maddie explained.

"Anyone take any special interest in Detective Halstead?" Antonio wanted to know.

"Not that I noticed. As I said before Jay didn't stay long. I gave him his drink. He sat there looking at it for a few minutes. I asked him if everything was ok. It was obvious something was wrong." Maddie said.

"Did he tell you what the problem was?" Antonio asked her.

"Look if you want to know what Jay's problem was I suggest you ask Erin Lindsay. He didn't tell me and then left a couple of minutes later." Maddie said sullenly.

"And you didn't notice anyone following him? No one showing any interest in him?"

"Like I said it was busy last night."

Knowing they weren't going to get any more information out of her they ended the interview and led Maddie out of the interrogation room.

Erin threw open the door of the viewing room ready to confront Maddie about her lies.

"Twelve hours. That's hong long your lies last night have cost us. Twelve hours we didn't know Jay was missing." Erin yelled as Maddie walked down the hallway ahead of her, causing the bar tender to turn around.

"Don't try and put this on me _Detective._ If you want to blame anyone have a look in the mirror. You're the one who had Jay messed up the last couple of weeks." Maddie spat back at Erin.

"You better pray that Jay is ok, or I'm gonna make sure you get slapped with obstruction charges."

"You bitch –" Maddie yelled moving to launch herself at Erin when Antonio grabbed her.

"Erin take a walk and cool off." Hank ordered her forcing her back into the viewing room closing the door.

"Antonio get Maddie out of here and down to Sargent Platt before _I_ make those charges a reality." Hank warned and let himself back into the room where Erin was pacing up and down the room.

"Erin if you can't get yourself under control I'm sending you home." Hank told her.

"Hank she cost us twelve hours. Twelve hours that Jay might not have –"

"Well then we better work fast to find out who has him and where he is." Hank said opening the door and motioning her out of the room.

Alvin was in the bullpen talking quietly to Mouse, along with Adam and Kevin who were obviously back from checking out the burned out car and Will still sat at Jay's desk.

"Ok where are we at?" Hank asked the team and Erin sat at her desk. "And where the hell is Nadia?" He added when he noticed her empty desk.

"I haven't seen her today." Erin told him with a shrug.

Erin was about to pick up the phone on her desk to see if Platt knew where her flatmate was when the phone started ringing.

"Intelligence Unit." Erin said picking up the phone.

"Is this Detective Lindsay?" A male voice with a slight accent asked on the other end of the line.

"Yes this is Detective Lindsay." Erin confirmed.

"Detective Erin Lindsay?" He asked again, something in the tone of his voice causing her to sit up straighter at her desk.

"Yes how can I help you?" Erin asked.

"Oh you can't help me. But I can help you. I believe I have something that belongs to you. Or should I say someone."

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought.

Can't believe its only 8 days until season 3! Finally! Hope this next week goes _fast_!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Sadly I own nothing, just borrowing a few of my favourite characters.

Authors Note: Sorry about the long wait for this chapter

writers block really does suck.

I am not a Doctor or in the police force so any mistakes I have made I apologise for.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and followed this story so far!

 **Chapter Six**

 _Previously_

" _Detective Erin Lindsay?" He asked again, something in the tone of his voice causing her to sit up straighter at her desk._

" _Yes how can I help you?" Erin asked._

" _Oh you can't help me. But I can help you. I believe I have something that belongs to you. Or should I say someone."_

"What do you mean you have someone who belongs to me?" Erin questioned, waving her hand to get the attention of the rest of the unit, who quickly stopped talking and gathered around her desk. She quickly replaced the receiver and put the call on speaker so everyone could hear what was being said.

"Now, now Detective Lindsay we don't really have time to play games do we? I'm sure you must be _well_ aware by now that your boyfriend is missing. And if you want to see Detective Halstead alive again you will meet me at the corner of 39th and California in one hour." Erin was told.

"How do I that you have Jay? Or that he is ok?" Erin asked closing her eyes as she said the words.

"You don't. But are you really willing to gamble with your boyfriend's life?"

"You must know that I need some kind of proof that you have Jay, and that he is ok before I can agree to anything." Erin told him as per protocol.

"There is a package waiting down stairs for you that should have all the proof you need."

"What exactly is it that you want out of this?" Erin asked him, trying to get, something, anything they could use.

"Exactly what I just said. You meet me on the corner of 39th and California. Alone. No back-up. No weapons. Except now you have thirty minutes, not sixty." He told her and abruptly ended that phone call.

Ruzek exploded into movement as soon as the call ended, running for the stairs and the package that apparently waited for them below.

"Mouse I need a trace on that phone call." Hank said urgently.

"Already on it." Mouse said sitting down at Nadia's desk, already tapping away at the keyboard.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Kevin asked looking towards the whiteboard that held what little information they had, and a time-line of Jay's movements the night before.

"Well it's safe to assume that they know who we are." Alvin said adjusting the beanie on his head. "And that they were following Jay last night and probably had been for some time."

"Anything on that phone call Mouse?" Voight asked, his gruff tone urgent.

"The call wasn't long enough for me to pinpoint an exact location but I should be able to get a general area, which I'll cross check with the –" He was cut off as Adam burst up the stairs a white package in his gloved hands.

"It's addressed to you Erin." Adam said slightly out of breath as he approached her desk.

Erin took the white padded envelope out of Adam's hands with the gloves someone had passed her, the entire until plus Will gathered around her, as she carefully opened it, tipping the contents out onto her desk.

Erin immediately recognized Jay's black leather wallet, flipping it open left no doubt that the wallet belonged to Jay, all his credit cards, ID and medical insurance card were all still inside, along with fifty dollars in notes and a handful of change. Antonio reached for the wallet, handing it to Atwater to check over more thoroughly.

Erin reached for the next item that had fallen out of the envelope and onto her desk, testing the weight of it in her hands.

"Jay's dog tags." Erin said her voice cracking with emotion. Clenching the metal tags in her bruised and battered hand, the biting pain pulling her back to the here and now rather than the dark thoughts flooding her mind. Erin turned to Will and tried hand them over to him.

Will shook his head and closed her fist gently back around Jay's dogs tags. "Why don't you look after them for him."

After slipping the dog tags around her neck for safe keeping Erin reached for the final item on her desk, a USB stick, promptly handing it to Mouse so he could work his tech magic.

"May I?" Mouse said, indicating to Erin's desk. She nodded and moved out of the way so he could take a seat in her chair and set up his laptop.

After putting the USB stick in the port on his laptop, tapping a couple of keys a video popped up on the screen.

The screen was blank to start with, then a room slowly came into focus and they were finally catch their first glimpse of Jay.

The reaction of the gathered unit members around the the screen as they see Jay strung up by his arms to a pipe hanging from the ceiling in the middle of a stark and dim basement, is one of shock and horror. There doesn't seem to be an inch of him that hasn't been bruised and battered, blood trickled down his almost unrecognizable face.

The video only lasts for just over a minute and ends with Jay being cut down from where they have him strung up by his arms and tossed none too gently on the concrete floor. Then the screen once again goes blank. Although the video is no more than ninety seconds long the vision of their beaten of bloody colleague, friend, brother and lover is one that would stay with them all for a long time to come.

"Oh God." Erin gasped out, her stomach churning and her vision dimming slightly around the edges. Will seeing her swaying beside him, switched into Doctor mode grasped her by the arms and forced her into Antonio's vacant chair and pushed her head down between her knees.

Antonio started pacing while cursing in Spanish, while Alvin shook his head sadly and walked out of the room. Kevin and Adam stood there in shock at what they had seen, and Voight slammed into the filing cabinet next to him, as he tried unsuccessfully to reign in his anger.

Mouse showed no reaction at all he just kept tapping away at his laptop.

After a couple of minutes Erin had herself under control and pushed Will's hands away from her. She stood up abruptly and grabbed her coat off the back of her chair, working out in her head the fastest rout to the corner of 39th and California. If she left now she should be able to make it there in about eight or nine minutes, which gave her about five minutes to spare.

Spying her keys next to Mouse's laptop, Erin picked them up and pocketed them intending to head for the stairs.

"Erin where do you think you're going." Hank asked her stepping in front of her, halting her movements.

"I'm going to get Jay back." Erin told him.

"Erin you know I can't let you do that." Hank told her.

"Hank we don't have time to argue about this I have just over fifteen minutes to get there." Erin told him trying to move around him.

"We have no idea what this guy's agenda is. You'd be walking in blind, and this whole thing could be a trap." Hank warned her.

"Hank you saw that video this might be the only chance we have of getting Jay back alive. I'm going."

"Voight's right Erin. His only demand was that you go alone. The whole thing stinks of a set-up." Antonio agreed.

"You might be willing to gamble with Jay's life. But I am not." Erin told them angrily.

"But you are willing to gamble with your own life?" Hank retorted.

"Yes in a heartbeat. Now move out of my way Hank."

"Erin I need you to think like a cop right now and not Jay's...girlfriend." Hank pleaded with her.

"I am thinking like a cop. One who is willing to do whatever it takes to get her partner back alive."

"And I can't authorize you going off half cocked by yourself on the say so of an obvious sociopath that we know nothing about." Hank told her.

"If that's the case. I don't need you to authorize anything. I quit." Erin said unclipping her badge from her belt and thrusting it towards Hank, and moving around him towards the stairs.

"Erin stop." Hank said half in warning half pleading

"I case you missed it. I just quit. I can do whatever the hell I want." Erin said.

"Erin –" Antonio started, but it was too late she was already gone.

"Atwater, Ruzek do _not_ let her leave the precinct." Hank demanded of the two younger members of the unit.

"But what if it's the only way to get Jay back?" Ruzek asked.

"Then we find another way." Hank told him.

"We're running out of time." Kevin said.

"Then stop standing there wasting time arguing with me and do what I told you to do. And I repeat Erin does not leave the precinct, even if you have to cuff her to Trudy's desk. She does not leave." Hank said and Kevin and Adam took off after Erin.

Will who had been quiet since they had watched the video sat back at Jay's desk, his head in his hands. Alvin walked back into the bullpen and have having a hushed conversation with Antonio, and Hank stood with his hands on his hips, a dark and dangerous look on his face as he stared at the stairs Erin had disappeared down moments before.

"Sarge. I think I have a location on where that phone call originated." Mouse said from his spot at Erin's desk.

"Where?" Hank demanded.

"I was able to narrow the search area where the second car went missing. There is only a two block radius that doesn't have any pods accessible, the phone call originated from the same area. I've done a property search of the area and there are only two possible locations they can be holding Jay at."

"Send me the addresses and specs of both locations." Hank asked walking to his office to grab his jacket.

"Already done." Mouse said.

"Antonio, Al with me. Lets suit up. Mouse get the others to meet us down stairs." Hank instructed.

Erin ran down the stairs and headed for the front entrance of the precinct, ignoring the first Sargent Platt and then Atwater and Ruzek calling her name.

She nearly made it to the front door when Ruzek stepped in front of her.

"Ruzek what the hell?." Erin asked when he wouldn't move out of her way.

"Sorry but I can't let you leave."

"Adam get out of my way." Erin told him through clenched teeth.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sargent Trudy Platt wanted to know. "You want to cause a scene do it upstairs not here."

"Voight told us –"

"Guys you need to head downstairs now to suit up we may have a location on Jay." Mouse told them.

Erin was torn between going to the meet with Jay's abductor or going with the rest of the unit to where they thought Jay was being held.

"Erin are you coming?" Kevin asked when she made no move to follow them downstairs.

Erin reluctantly followed them downstairs where the rest of the unit were getting suited up and going over what information they had on the two locations.

"Sarge?" Mouse said looking up from his ever present laptop.

"What is it Mouse?" Hank wanted to know

"Looking at the blueprints of the two locations I think there is only one that fits the bill on where they could be holding Jay."

"How sure are you about this?" Hank questioned

"Well if it was me the first place is too open with too many possible escape routs." Mouse told him.

"Good enough for me. We hit this one location. It needs to be quick and it needs to be clean."

"Agreed we only have one shot at this." Antonio said from his spot next to Voight.

"I'm guessing you'll be wanting this back?" Hank asked Erin holding up her badge.

"Hank–"

"You and I are going to have a conversation after this is all over and we have Jay back safely." Hank told her handing her her badge.

"What about the meet? It's meant to go down in five minutes." Erin needed to know.

"Roman and Burgess are at that location waiting for them to show up." Hank explained.

"But what if they have Jay with them?" Erin asked

"And what if they don't. They never said they wanted anything in exchange for Jay. They just wanted you to show up at a random location. I'm starting to think they never had any intention of handing Jay over. That their main objective was to get you." Hank explained.

"Alright lets roll out." Antonio said.

"Ah Doc where do you think you're going?" Hank asked when Will Halstead made a move to go with them.

"Jay is injured and we don't know how badly. You need a Doctor and I am a trauma surgeon." Will said holding up his medical bag.

"Will I can't allow you to come with us. If something were to happen to you–"

"Look either you let me come with you, or I follow. Either way I'm going." Will said almost daring someone to stop him.

Hank turned his eyes skyward and let out a long suffering sigh, muttering about no one listening to him. "Atwater get Dr Halstead a vest."

"You do exactly what I say." Hank warned him pointing his finger at him to make his point.

Will agreed to this and they were on their way in a matter of minutes.

A call from Burgess while the team was en route to their location told them that Jay's abductors had been a no show at the meeting spot. News which did little to alleviate Erin's sense of dread.

When the reached the warehouse where they believed Jay was being held, all seemed quiet no cars and no movement.

Voight, Erin and Antonio, followed at a safe distance by Will, were to go in thought the front while Al, Kevin and Adam were to go in though the back.

Once everyone was in position they breached the warehouse moving quickly from one room to the next clearing as they went. So far they had encountered no one. When the first level was all clear they moved to the stairs and down to the basement where they believe Jay was being held.

They knew going in that there were four rooms in the basement, a quick sweep of the first two rooms showed them to be clear. They moved further down the hallway, Hank Antonio and Erin taking the room to the right, and Al, Kevin and Adam the room on the left.

* * *

Jay heard movement outside the door and he knew that this was it. This was the end. He willed himself to move, to fight. Anything. He grasped at the only thing he could use as a weapon, the piece of the broken chair that was now sticking out of his side. Jay clenched hand around the wooden shard sticking out of his side, crying out in agony as he pulled it out, just as the door burst open.

He could make out three of them and swung out with every last bit of strength he had left.

He heard voices shouting at him, hands grabbing at him, and groaned in pain as his broken arm was twisted. Then there was silence as everything faded to black once more.

* * *

"I told you two to go slow." Alvin said shaking his head at Atwater and Ruzek as he knelt down beside an unconscious Jay.

"What the fuck was that? I think he broke my nose." Ruzek said incredulously.

"He's in here." Al called out into the hallway.

Erin and Will were next into the room quickly followed by Hank and Antonio.

"Jay." Erin called out racing to where Jay was and dropping to her knees beside him grasping his hand in hers. Erin vaguely heard Hank calling for an ambulance, but everything else faded away except Jay.

"He's alive." Al said quietly but the warning glance he shot Will's way said thing were dire. "He was conscious when he got here. He Didn't recognize us, fought those two, then passed out."

"Jay can you hear me?" Will said leaning over his brother, but received no answer in reply.

Will did a cursory check on his brother's injuries, there were many. One look at Jay's right arm told Will it was broken, he had various cuts on his hands and arms, none that required any immediate attention. His torso a covered in scratches and bruises at least four of his ribs broken. Will was concerned about what he couldn't see like internal bleeding and a head injury. But of more immediate concern the fact that Jay had hypothermia.

"How is he?" Voight wanted to know.

"Not great" Will said. "I need get his core temperature up. Someone grab me that thermal blanket out of my bag."

Will was wrapping the blanket around Jay when he noticed a puncture wound on Jay's side and the growing puddle of blood beneath him.

"Shit." Will muttered, pissed that he'd missed it before now.

"What?" Erin asked looking up from Jay to his brother who wore a worried expression.

"How far out is that ambo?" Will asked.

"Five minutes out." Antonio told him. "Why whats wrong?"

"Jay doesn't have five minutes. He has a puncture wound on his right side, it must have hit an artery. I need to stop the bleeding before he bleeds out."

"What do you need?" Antonio asked bringing Will's medical bag closer to where the Doctor knelt beside his brother.

"I need some gauze, a scalpel and a suture kit. Someone support his head, we need to move him slightly so I can get better access to the wound."

Will worked quickly, first using the scalpel to widen the wound, then clamping the severed artery. He managed to stop the bleeding just as the two paramedics walked into the room.

Will gave them a brief handover of Jay's laundry list of injuries and helped them get him onto the backboard.

Erin was forced to drop her hold on Jay's hand as they rolled him out of the warehouse on a stretcher. Will got into the back of the ambulance with Jay the doors close leaving Erin and the rest of the unit standing there as it sped off at full speed towards Chicago Med.

Thanks for reading I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

Please let me know what you think.

Sorry to leave it there, but it had to end somewhere…...


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note:** A huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed

and added this story to your alerts and favourites.

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly I own nothing, just borrowing a few charters to play with.

I also am not a Doctor or a nurse or involved in the medical industry at all. So any mistakes I

have made are my own.

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

Erin could only stare numbly off into the distance as the flashing lights of the ambulance that carried Jay became smaller and smaller.

She willed herself move, to do something, anything, but the only movement she was capable of making was to grab ahold of Jay's dog tags that hung around her neck for safe keeping.

Erin found herself whispering silent prayers that Jay would be ok, as she stood rooted to the dirty patch of concrete in front of the warehouse that had served as Jay's torture chamber and prison since he'd been taken over fourteen hours ago.

Fourteen hours that Jay had been held captive, and if the condition they found Jay been any indication he had been beaten and tortured for most of that time.

"Ruzek you ok? Or do you need to head to Med to get that looked at?" Voight asked, as Adam tried to stem the blood coming from his possibly broken nose.

"No I'm good Sarge." Adam responded with a shake of his head. "I'm not leaving until we find something on these bastards." He added, with a sad shake on his head as he recalled the state Jay had been in when they had burst through that basement door.

He had been like a wild animal if fight or flight mode. But what worried Adam the most was the fact that Jay had failed to recognize either him or Kevin in that basement.

"Alright then I want every inch of that warehouse searched, these guys must left something for us to go on. Atwater, you and Ruzek take the basement, Al and I will search the main level." Hank ordered gruffly, as he waved two uniformed officers over to him and ordered them to check every inch of the property and surrounding buildings.

"What about me Sarge?" Antonio asked.

"I need you and Erin head to Chicago Med I don't want Halstead left alone until we find these guys. We have no idea of knowing if they intend to finish the job and take Halstead out for good." Hank told Antonio, then shot Erin a worried glance when he realised what he'd said, but she stood just there frozen to the spot, staring off into the distance.

"Erin." Antonio said as he turned following Hanks gaze, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder trying to capture her attention.

Erin jerked back to reality as Antonio called her name again this time more urgently and then added, "Come on we need to move now."

With Antonio's hand on the small of her back Erin was guided to the 300 and didn't even put up a fight when Antonio asked for her car keys and slid into the drivers seat.

Erin was vaguely aware of fastening her seatbelt and holding on for dear life as Antonio took off for Chicago Med as if they were involved in a high speed car chase.

"He's gonna be ok Erin." Antonio tried assured her as he gripped the steering wheel, with hands stained with Jay's blood.

Erin couldn't form a reply, she just stared out the window as the Chicago streets flashed by, but she didn't really see them, all she saw was Jay lying on the floor, his body a mass of cuts and bruises, covered in blood and shaking. His face barely recognizable.

Erin closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists, pain zinging up her arm from her busted hand, and fought the urge to hit something, because try as she might, Erin couldn't get passed the fact that this whole mess was her fault.

Sure she hadn't abducted and beaten Jay, but her careless words, aimed specifically to hurt him, simply because she herself was hurting, had been the reason Jay was alone and vulnerable on the street, the reason he had been taken, and now the reason he was beaten, battered and broken.

Erin was lost to the doubts and fears racing through her mind. What if her last words to Jay had been said in anger and aimed to hurt?

Or even worse if he left this world believing that she didn't care about him? That he had no clue that she did in fact love him madly and completely, but was terrified that he would end up leaving her like almost everyone she cared about inevitably left.

So she used Hank's ultimatum as an excuse to push Jay away before he could leave her alone, hurt with her heart shattered into a million pieces. But in the end that has happened anyway, only it wasn't just her that had been left alone and hurt and it wasn't just her heart that had shattered into a million pieces. No she had made sure Jay had been destroyed too. And she knew without doubt that if Jay didn't make it though this she would _never_ forgive herself.

Antonio pulled the 300 up outside Chicago Med with a screech of tires, that was enough throw Erin forward against the restraint of her seatbelt and jerk her out of her thoughts and back to a dark reality.

She quickly undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the car and then she was off and running into the Emergency Department, she came to an abrupt stop at the desk slightly out of breath.

"Detective Jay Halstead was just brought in." Erin said flashing her badge, which was a pointless act as Maggie Lockwood looked up at her from the computer screen in front of her.

"Detective, Will said to expect you." Maggie told her a concerned expression on her face.

"Oh God, Jay is he —"

"I'm not going to lie to you Erin he's not in great shape, they had to rush him up into surgery." Maggie told her as Antonio walked in to stand beside her.

"Where?" Erin asked urgently.

"Third floor, Will is waiting for you up there." Maggie told the two detectives, and Erin didn't wait to hear anymore.

"I'll send the rest of your team up when they get here." Maggie told Antonio as Erin ran for the elevators.

Jabbing her finger impatiently at the up button Erin willed the elevator to hurry the hell up and was seriously considering making a run for the stairs when the doors finally opened.

Erin took a deep breath which did little to calm her racing heart and once again reached for Jay's dog tags hanging around her neck and held on tight and willed Jay to do the same.

After what felt like forever but was in fact no more than thirty seconds, the elevator doors finally slid opened to the third floor. Erin was about to move towards the nurse station but spied Will Halstead further down the hallway.

"Will?" Erin somehow managed to call out her voice huskier that usual, causing Will, who was pacing up and down the hallway, his hands gripping his hair in distress, to come to an abrupt halt.

As he turned towards her and Antonio, who had come to a stop to stand beside her, Erin noticed that his jeans and jacket were covered in blood, Jay's blood.

"Jay?" Erin asked almost pleadingly, unable to say anything else around the lump in her throat.

"I'm still waiting for an update, they took him straight into surgery." Will explained, his distress obvious.

"What do you know?" Antonio asked.

Will rubbed a hand over his face, took a deep breath, and then looked at Erin.

"Jay has a pneumothorax –"

"English please." Antonio said cutting Will off.

"Sorry habit. Jay has a collapsed lung, at least four broken ribs, hypothermia, his right shoulder is dislocated and his arm is broken in two places.

"Is that why he was rushed into surgery?" Antonio asked.

"No. Although he will probably need pins put in his arm at some stage, that is not a big concern at the moment." Will explained.

"Then why did they rush him into surgery?" Erin asked.

"Erin, Jay suffered a server head injury which caused a bleed on his brain."

"Oh God." Erin cried out.

"They needed to release the pressure on his brain –"

"What does that entail exactly?" Antonio asked the question that both he and Erin needed to know.

"They will drill a hole in Jay's skull to evacuate the blood, to relieve the pressure on his brain."

"But he's going to be ok right?" Erin asked

"Erin –"

"Will please tell me Jay is going to be ok." Erin pleaded.

"I wish I could do that Erin. I really do. But Jay is in critical condition, we lost him once on the way here in the ambulance and I have no idea what other injuries he has." Will told her.

"So we just wait here then?" Antonio asked, frustrated by not knowing if his friend was going to be ok.

"Yes –" Will started to say tiredly

"Surely there's something you can do? You're a doctor for God's sake? Erin demanded her own frustration giving way to anger.

"You think I didn't do everything I could for him Erin? That I wouldn't be in there in that operating room if I could be?" Will retorted angrily. "Let's not forget who's fault this is to begin with anyway." He spat back, then immediately wished he could take the words back as Erin blanched and what little colour she had leeched out of her face.

Erin stared at him for a beat as his words stabbing at her, then turned without another word a walked down the hallway without a backwards glance, because she knew that what Will had said was true. This _was_ her fault.

"Shit –" Will muttered as watched Erin walk away. He was pissed that he hadn't been able to do more for Jay, that he hadn't been allowed into the OR with Rhodes and he'd taken all his anger, worry and frustration and lashed out at Erin..

He made a move after her to apologise for his thoughtless words, only to be stopped by Antonio stepping in front of him.

"You go after her right now and you'll feel the full wrath of Erin Lindsay." Antonio warned him.

With a sigh Will stopped and ran a frustrated hand through his messy auburn hair.

"I didn't mean what I said Antonio. I don't blame her for what happened to Jay." Will explained tiredly.

"I know. And I'm sure she knows that too. She'll be back as soon a she's cooled down. Just give her a few minutes." Antonio told him.

Will nodded his head and with that went back to pacing the hallway, unable to stand still while they waited for news on Jay's condition.

Erin pushed through a door leading into a bathroom, that thankfully appeared to be empty.

With hands that shook she reached to turn on the taps watching the water swirl into the sink and down the drain. She raised her eyes from the water and took in the image staring back at her, there was blood smeared on her clothes and face, but it was her hands that held her attention, stained with blood from where she held Jay's lifeless hand within hers.

She placed her hands under the icy water and watched it turn pink as it washed Jay's blood off her hands.

It was only once her hands were numb and her own blood swirled into the sink did Erin remove her hands from the water, her breath coming in short gasps as she tried and failed to reign in her rampant emotions.

She stepped back in slid down the wall at her back unable to hold in the sobs that burst from her, tears running unchecked down her pale cheeks as she once more held onto Jay's dog tags now covered in her blood.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter which coincidently I had to cut in half because it

was getting too long so I should be able to post the next chapter soon.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks L x


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing just borrowing a few of my favourite characters to play with.

All I know about medical terms and hospitals I learned off TV and books. So any mistakes

I have made are my own.

 **Authors Note:** Yes your eyes aren't deceiving you

two updates in two weeks.

Another huge thanks to those who have reviewed -

your words mean a lot and have me inspired to write.

Big thanks also to those who have added this story to your alerts and favourites! I appreciate it!

* * *

 **Chapter Eight**

Time seemed to crawl by as Will and Antonio waited for someone to come and give them an update Jay's condition.

Will finally lost his patients waiting for news on Jay. It had been over on hour since Jay had been rushed into surgery and Will wasn't going to wait a minute longer to find out how his younger brother was. Using his position as a Doctor at Chicago Med to try and gain access to the OR where they worked on Jay.

He'd been told in no uncertain terms that he would be removed from the hospital altogether if he attempted that move again.

Harassing the nurses didn't seem to be working either. The fact that no one had come to give them any news was really starting to concern Will, because he knew just how badly Jay had been injured and as a Doctor he knew everything that could go wrong.

Will was just about to try again to gain access to the OR, consequences be damned when the elevator door opened and the hallway filled with a flurry of movement.

It was Natalie that captured and held Will's attention as she made a beeline straight for him.

"How are you holding up?" Natalie asked placing a comforting hand on his arm, she had been trying to get up to see Will, since she heard Jay had been brought in but hadn't had a change to get up to see him before now.

"No one's telling us anything and they won't let me near the OR." Will told her his frustration obvious.

"I'll go and see what I can find out." Natalie promised him and headed off to find out what she could.

"Antonio how's Jay?" Nadia asked worriedly as she approached the detective.

"We're still waiting for an update. What are you doing here?" Antonio asked.

"Sargent Voight sent me down to wait with Erin. He should be ringing for you any second." Nadia said and no sooner had the words left her mouth, than Antonio's cell phone started buzzing with an incoming call.

Antonio stepped away from where Nadia and Will stood and moved further up the hall.

"Any word on Halstead?" Hank Voight asked him urgently.

"We're still waiting for an update. But from what Will said Jay's condition is critical." Antonio let his boss know.

"Anything on your end?" Antonio asked, hoping they had found something that would help them get the bastards who did this to Jay.

"We found a laptop in our second sweep of the basement." Hank explained.

"What was on it?" Antonio asked.

"A detailed dossier on Halstead. From the information they were able to put together on him, they must have had eyes on him for least a couple of weeks."

"So are we any closer to working out who these guys are?" Antonio wondered.

"No. But we have another problem." Voight told him the tone in his voice grim.

"What?"

"These guys also have detailed information on Erin, and I would bet my pension that, that phone call Erin got this morning was never about them releasing Jay. It was all about an opportunity to grab Erin."

"Shit. So you were right this morning it _was_ all a set-up. We need to find these bastards. Do you want me to head back to the precinct?" Antonio wanted to know.

"No. I'll call you when we get something. I don't want Erin to know anything about this yet. She has enough to worry about. And I need you to stay there with Erin and Nadia. And whatever you do, do not let her out of your sight." Hank demanded and, in typical Hank Voight fashion abruptly ended the phone call.

"Shit." Antonio muttered and turned in the direction Erin had been headed in when she took off earlier. He'd lost track of time while they waited for news on Jay and had left Erin alone after she stormed off hoping she'd cool off and come back when she was ready, but had that been twenty minutes or forty? Antonio wasn't sure.

"What's wrong?" Nadia asked urgently.

"I need to find Erin now." Antonio told a worried looking Nadia.

"I'll come with you." Nadia said, almost having to run to keep up with Antonio.

They left Will to wait for Natalie and hopefully an update on Jay's condition.

Antonio and Nadia hurried up the hallway the latter having to almost run to keep up with the former, looking left and right for any sign of Erin.

"Where did she go?" Nadia wanted to know.

"She needed to cool off and calm down." Antonio explained.

"How long ago was that?"

"I'm not sure." Antonio said.

"And you guys didn't think to check that she was ok?" Nadia asked shaking her head.

Sometimes the stupidity of the men she worked with was mind boggling.

She had only heard everything that happened second hand from Sargent Platt and then from Mouse when she finally made it back to the 21st district after running errands for Platt down at the Ivory Tower for most of the day.

Thinking back over the past twenty-four hours Nadia hadn't worried when Erin failed to make it home the night before, thinking she must have been at Jay's, that they had worked things out. But from what information she was given the whole situation sounded bad. Very bad. And knowing Erin as she did, she knew her housemate would be blaming herself for what had happened to Jay.

Nadia spied female toilets further down the hallway and speeded up her footsteps.

She pushed open the door and swallowed back a gasp as she took in the sight of Erin slumped on the floor staring transfixed down at her bloody hands, her face as pale as the white tiles she was slumped against.

"Erin?" Nadia said quietly trying to get her attention as she walked further into the room and crouched down and sat down on the floor next to her.

When Erin didn't answer her or show any sign she had even heard her. Nadia tried again this time saying her name with a bit more force and placing a hand on her shoulder squeezing gently.

That seemed to break Erin out of her trance like state and she turned eyes full of heartbreak and unimaginable pain in her direction.

"Jay?" Erin whispered out her voice as broken as she looked to be.

"We're still waiting to hear. But Natalie was going in to find out how he is doing." Nadia let her know.

Erin just nodded her head and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the tiles.

"Come on lets get you up off this cold floor." Nadia said and helped Erin slowly to her feet.

"What happened to your hands?" Nadia asked, and Erin mumbled something about a locker and water, and not being able to get her hands clean.

"We might need to get someone to have a look at your hands." Nadia said as looked down at Erin's swollen and bloody hands.

Erin just shrugged and let Nadia lead her through the door and out into the hallway where Antonio waited for them in the hallway.

Antonio rushed over when the bathroom door opened and Erin and Nadia emerged, cursing under his breath as he saw the state Erin was in, but one pointed look from Nadia had him backing off and he followed them back down the hallway to where Will waited.

Will was deep in conversation with Natalie when they walked down the hall, Erin shrugged off Nadia's hands and all but ran towards the two Doctors.

"How is he?" Erin asked Natalie.

"As I was just explaining Will, the Orthopedic Surgeon was able to put his dislocated should back in and insert the pin's in his right arm. Jay also had a fair bit of internal bleeding, from the beatings he was subjected to I'm assuming, Dr Rhodes was able to locate and stop bleeding is his kidneys and spleen. The Neurosurgeon is working on Jay at the moment." Natalie explained.

"Is he going to be ok?" Erin asked her eyes as pleading as he voice.

"It's too early for me to say Erin, but Jay is holding his own, and everything so far has gone as well as can be expected."

"How much longer will he be in surgery?" Erin asked huskily.

"Unfortunately I can't answer that. It could be another half an hour or it could be two. But one of the nurse's is a friend of mine and will be out to give you updates every twenty to thirty minutes."

"Thanks for that." Erin said able to breath a little easier for the first time since she watched that vision of Jay being knocked to the ground and tossed into a car all those hours ago.

"There's a waiting room around the corner where you can wait that will be more comfortable than waiting in the hallway. I'll take you there." Natalie said.

"I'll meet you guys there shortly, I'm just going to go down and grab a change of clothes." Will told them, his jeans and shirt still covered in Jay's blood.

Once Will had gone, Natalie lead Erin, Nadia and Antonio to a cheery little room off the hallway that had two couches, a TV, and a table with four chairs.

"Erin why don't you let Nat have a look at your hands?" Nadia coaxed as she and Erin sat down on one of the couches.

"They're fine." Erin said putting her hands into her coat pocket, unable to mask her wince as her torn flesh brushed against the material of her coat.

"May I?" Natalie asked and held out her hands for Erin's.

With a long suffering sigh Erin place her hands into Natalie's, the later gently probing her split knuckles of her right hands and the gouges in her left hand.

"What happened?" Natalie asked gently.

"I had a run in with a locker." Erin explained.

"And this one?" Natalie questioned.

"I...they were covered in Jay's... and i couldn't get it off...I tried and –"

"Ok. Thats ok. Why don't you come with me and we'll have you fixed up in no time." Natalie told her, cutting her off when she became distressed.

"But what about Jay?"

"My friend Michelle will page me the minute we know more about Jay's condition." Natalie promised.

"I'll come with you." Antonio said getting to his feet.

"I don't think that's necessary Detective, we'll just be down stairs in my office." Natalie told him hoping he would get her message that Erin would be safe with her. She had been with Sharon Goodwin when Hank Voight had rung to say that security at the hospital need to be tightened as two of his detectives could be in danger.

"I'll go with them." Nadia promised Antonio and knowing Nadia would fight to the death to protect Erin, Antonio sat back down and watched the trio leave the room. Deciding to use the time to himself wisely Antonio started making phone calls. Anything he could do to try and help try and catch those responsible for this fucked up situation.

Another hour had come and gone, with Will now back and waiting with Antonio in the waiting room. And as promised Natalie's friend Michelle had come out and given them an updates. Unfortunately it was nothing new, just that Jay was still in surgery and everything was going as expected. Will had gotten a message from Nat saying that she was sending Erin in for x-rays on her hand and they would be back up after that.

Antonio worked feverishly at the table writing on paper he had procured from one of the nurses and made phone call after phone call.

Antonio just finished up on his latest phone call when the door opened and Erin, Nadia and Natalie walked into the room. Erin now sporting a white cast on her right hand and a bandage on her left.

"So it was broken then?" Will asked Natalie.

"Yeah she sure did a number on her poor hand." Natalie told him and sat down next to him on the couch.

"You ok Erin?" Antonio asked as she sat down tentatively on the other couch.

"I'm fine." Erin told him, but it was obvious to everyone in the room that she was far from being fine.

Nadia walked over to the table where Antonio had set up his mini office and offered her services and her laptop that she pulled out of her satchel.

"Erin I'm so sorry about before –" Will started.

"It's fine Will." Erin said cutting off his apology.

"No its really not. I didn't mean what I said." Will tried to explain.

"Don't worry about it." Erin told him and walked over to where Nadia and Antonio worked, effectively putting an end to the conversation.

"What are you working on?" Erin asked.

"Trying to find out who had motive to take Jay." Antonio told her.

"Still no luck in finding them?" Erin asked.

"Not yet. All we know is that they had been watching Jay for a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks?" Erin questioned.

"Yeah at least. They had a detailed dossier on Jay." Antonio explained.

"And there was nothing at the warehouse that gives us a clue as to who they are?"

"Unfortunately not."

"Where can I start?" Erin asked.

"I've been reaching out to my CI's to see if anyone has heard anything. And I'm in the process of trying to reach out to Jay's CI's. So if you could write down any names that come to mind, someone that could hold a grudge against Jay." Antonio said then added when he remembered her casted hand. "Ok get Nadia to write down a list and we'll send them to Mouse to cross check against what little information we do have."

Erin sat there and tried to think back on all the cases she and Jay had worked on together, there were hundreds of them. But only a few sprang to mind a being possible suspects in this. The Rodiger case. Pulpo, but seemed unlikely, as Jay was the reason he was still breathing. The Oskar Bembenek case that resulted in a bounty being placed on Jay's and an attempt on his life. A case which included JP the 'retired' hit-man who had taken Jay hostage, given her and the rest of the team a scare and resulted in JP being sent to jail.

Erin watched as Nadia started to type the names she gave her into a message to Mouse.

"Bembenek why does that name sound so familiar?" Nadia said pausing after entering the name.

"It was just after you started working at the precinct." Erin explained. "The bounty that was out on Jay's head. It was a big case.

"No I feel like I've heard that name recently." Nadia said with a shake of her head and tried to work out where she had heard that name so recently and why.

The continued working while Will and Natalie chatted quietly on the couch, until the door opened and Dr Rhodes walked into the room.

Both Will and Erin leapt to their feet, both eager and terrified at the same time to find out how Jay was.

"Jay made it though surgery. The neurosurgeon was very please with how the surgery went. He was able to reduce the pressure on Jay's brain. That being said Jay is still in critical condition, we have him on a ventilator because of the trauma he endured to his lungs and also because of that we have him in a medically induced coma to give his body a chance to heal. I'm not going to lie, Jay was extremely lucky that you found him when you did. Another five minutes and we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation. And the next twenty-four hours are critical." Connor Rhodes explained.

"When can we see him?" Erin asked.

"He's in post-op at the moment and will be there for at least another half an hour. I will send someone to get you when he's settled in ICU."

"Thanks." Will said shaking his co-workers hand.

"No thanks necessary." Rhodes said and left with Natalie and Will not far behind him to go and check on patients.

Erin, Antonio and Nadia continued to work the case from their mobile office until there was a knock to the door. Then moments later the door opened and Sargent Trudy Platt walked into the room.

"I heard Detective Halstead just got out of surgery. He ok?" She asked.

"The next twenty-four hours are critical." Antonio told her.

"We're all praying for him to pull through." She said quietly to Erin a comforting hand on her shoulder. Erin nodded her thanks unable to speak.

"Nadia do you have those files you picked up for me from the Ivory Tower today?" Trudy asked.

"Yeah sure. I have them here." Nadia said and leaned down to pick up her satchel. She opened the bag and pulled out the files she had picked up earlier. And that was when she knew where she'd seen the name Bembenek.

It was in the paper work she had picked up earlier.

"This is it." She said opening the file. "I knew I'd seen the name Oskar Bembenek recently. Here it is." Nadia said and passed Erin the file.

"Oskar Bembenek died in a prison fight just over two weeks ago." Erin said after reading through the file.

"How are we just now finding out about this?" Antonio asked incredulously.

"That's a question I will be asking you can count on that." Trudy Platt assured everyone in the room.

"That seems to be too much of a coincidence if you ask me." Antonio said and quickly placed a call to Voight and told him what they had found out.

"I have to head back to the precinct. Erin, if there is anything you need, you let me know ok." Trudy said.

"Thanks." Erin said and resisted to urge to check the clock on the wall for the fiftieth time, while she waited until she could see Jay.

"Do you need to head back to the precinct too?" Erin asked Antonio when he made no move to leave.

"I have strict instructions not leave Chicago Med." Antonio told her.

"Why? Are they expecting another attempt to be made in Jay's life?" Erin questioned but that didn't really make any sense, if these guys had wanted Jay dead she had to believe they would have killed him last night. In fact the more she thought about it the whole thing seemed to be about revenge and making sure Jay suffered.

"No. You're here for me aren't you?" Erin said as realisation dawned.

"That laptop we found in the basement also had detailed information on you. And we have reason to believe that, that phone call this morning was never about Jay it was about them getting you." Antonio told her.

"Antonio, the Unit can't be three members down a run effectively. We need to catch need to pay for what they did to Jay." Erin replied.

"Voight was very clear about me not leaving your side." Antonio added.

"I am more than capable taking care of myself, even if I do have a broken hand." Erin told him.

"Erin –"

"I will stay at Jay's bedside and won't leave. I will have Nadia and Will here with me. Hell you can even station some uniforms outside the door to make sure if you like. But we can't catch whoever is behind this without all hands on deck." Erin said.

"Fine but you can ring Voight and tell him that." Antonio conceded.

"Oh you can be sure he's gonna hear all about it from me." Erin told him.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Will came back to tell Erin that Jay had been moved into ICU and they were allowed to go and sit with him.

Will stopped Erin just before they entered Jay's hospital room.

"What?" Erin asked worriedly.

"I just wanted to warn you that Jay looks pretty bad. He's hooked up to numerous machines and he's battered and bruised pretty much from head to toe and the ventilator is doing the breathing for him at the moment." Will warned her.

"I understand." Erin assured him as she pushed the door open, but no amount of warning or words from Will could have prepared her for what she saw when she walked in and saw Jay for the first time laying in that hospital bed.

Her first thought was that Will had taken her into the wrong hospital room, there was no way that was Jay laying in that hospital bed. No it couldn't be.

His face was bruised and swollen so much that he was unrecognizable, his head was covered in thick white bandages and like Will had warned her, he was hooked up to numerous machines, one of which was a ventilator, its tubes coming out of his mouth as it pumped air down into his lungs.

Erin shook her head at the sight, determined not to break down again, she needed to be strong for Jay right now, when he couldn't be.

Erin took a seat on the left hand side of Jay's hospital and gently took his hand into hers.

* * *

The next twelve hours past by in a blur. Erin refused to leave Jay's side, moving from her chair only when she needed to move out of the way of the Doctors and nurses or when she had to use the bathroom.

Will was no better only he managed to get some sleep reclined in an arm chair, be Erin refused to close her eyes. Afraid if she did something would happen.

The Doctors assured her that Jay was still doing as well as could be expected and there was no further swelling or bleeding on his brain, although he wasn't out of the woods just yet, they always felt the need to add. As if not wanting to give her false hope.

Erin had received numerous phone calls from the Unit but they were still out chasing down leads and hadn't been able to come to Chicago Med in person yet.

Hank had assured her they were doing everything in their power to find Daniel Oskar Bembenek, the nephew of the now deceased Oskar Bembenek.

Turns out he had visited his uncle in the weeks before his death and had gone off the grid since he found out about his Uncle's death, that is after he visited a local bar and toasted the lives of both his Uncle's, telling anyone who would listen that Jay Halstead has killed both of his Uncle's and destroyed his family.

Now that they had a name and a face they just needed to find him.

Erin hadn't left Jay's hospital room, but she knew Voight had two uniforms right outside the door.

Nadia has been a rock, bringing her and Will whatever they needed coffee, water or food.

Erin had been adamant that Nadia stay close, she was worried about Nadia going back to their apartment alone and being mistaken for her. So when she wasn't trying to get some sleep she was studying for her upcoming exams.

And if earlier today, or was it yesterday now, was anything to go by Nadia was going to make one hell of a cop one day. If she hadn't found the link to Bembenek they would still have no idea who was responsible for taking Jay.

Erin silently thanked God when Jay made it through the critical first twenty-four mark and was still doing ok.

And then, when he was still doing well ten hours after that and his Doctors decided to take him off the ventilator and reduce the drugs that kept Jay in a coma. Meaning that he should start to wake up soon.

* * *

Jay wasn't sure where he was but it was dark and he was still freezing cold. At this point he wasn't sure he would ever feel warm again. But at least he couldn't feel the pain wherever he was.

Sometimes he could hear someone talking to him, but it felt like they were taking to him from a long way away, and he couldn't make out the words or who was saying them.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he should be doing something, that there was something he should be remembering but every time he tried to remember pain knifed through his head and he fell into nothingness once more.

The first thing Jay became truly aware of was that he was no longer freezing cold, but the pain had returned ten fold. Jay tried to move into a more comfortable position but couldn't make himself move.

Pain knifed through his head and then he felt himself drifting alone though the dark once more.

The sound of voices brought Jay back from the darkness, and he was momentarily confused where he was and why he was there.

Jay tried to open his eyes but the bright light hurt his head. He moved his hand to turn off his bedside lamp but found his hand weighed down.

"Jay can you hear me?" Jay recognized the voice as being Will's and suddenly he knew where he was and why.

Jay was flooded with image after image, of arguing with Voight and then with Erin at work. Drinking at Molly's. Having words with Antonio and tossing his badge on the bar. Of deciding not to let Erin run away and then heading to her apartment. Then nothing until he woke up cold and alone a concrete room. The beatings the torture and Erin...Oh God Erin.

Jay opened his eyes as much as the swelling would allow, gasping for breath as pain ricocheted through what seemed like every inch of his body.

"Erin?" Jay managed to rasp out.

"Jay it's …"

"Jay...sorry...Erin...gone –" Jay heard Will say.

"No." Jay said his anguish evident on his bruised and battered face and in his voice.

Despite the blinding pain Jay tried to sit up and get out of bed, he had to get to Erin. He couldn't leave her alone in that basement.

"Jay I need you to calm down." Will pleaded with Jay who had started thrashing about on the bed. When Will leaned down and tried to hold him still, Jay struck out his casted arm connected with Will's cheek bone and jerked him back.

But Jay it seemed didn't even notice he'd hit his brother and continued to thrash about. Left with little choice will pressed the buzzer and when a nurse burst into the room Will told her get him a sedative before Jay could do himself some serious damage.

"Jay I need you to listen to me. You need to clam down." Will once again tired pleading with his brother.

"Erin." Jay called out again this time louder refusing to listen to Will.

"Jay?" Erin called out as she burst through the bathroom door. Will had finally talked her into leaving to have a shower, telling her she stunk after sitting in the same spot for the better part of forty-eight hours. So she had finally relented and gone to have a shower while Nadia had gone down to the cafeteria to get them some food.

"Jay." Erin called out again approaching the bed warily as Jay grappled with Will trying to get up out of the bed. "Jay please calm down." Erin pleaded with him.

"No I need to find Erin." Jay argued.

"Jay I'm right here." Erin told him ungently.

"No. Erin?" Jay called out again, Erin tried to take ahold of his hand to reassure him that she was right there beside him.

But Jay struck out again this time hitting Erin with a flailing arm.

Erin didn't see the hit coming and didn't have time to brace for the impact and went flying as Jay's fist connected with the side of her head.

Just as Erin hit the floor the door burst open and a nurse rushed in handing Will the sedative. Will and the nurse managed to hold Jay down long enough that he could administer the sedative and didn't take long before Jay's flailing arms stilled and his body stopped twisting as he tried to get up and out of bed, Erin's whispered name still coming from his lips, until they too finally grew still.

"Erin are you ok?" Will asked moving around the other side of the bed where Erin lay sprawled out on the floor.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please let me know what you thought!

Reviews are appreciated and give me incentive and inspiration to write quicker ;)

Thanks L xo


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